Dive Brief:
- Snap Inc. is reaching out to a wider group of advertisers with a self-service tool to handle ad placements. Snapchat Ad Manager lets mobile marketers target specific audiences with ad formats that include video, according to Adweek.
- Snap will accept credit card payments for ad placements starting in July, enabling small businesses a quick and easy way to launch a mobile ad campaign. Facebook, Google, Twitter and Pinterest have similar systems that advertisers can access through a browser. Snap also added a mobile dashboard feature to the Snapchat app that lets advertisers review ads and see real-time analytics of their campaigns.
- More than 20 brands have tested out the self-service tool, including online sneaker marketplace GOAT and movie ticketing app Atom Tickets. Snap will offer its ad manager in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Australia.
Dive Insight:
Snap’s expanded self-service functions may make Snapchat more appealing for marketers seeking a younger-skewing demographic that’s elusive to other social media apps. On any given day, 81% of Snapchat’s daily users in the U.S. don’t use Twitter, 46% don’t use Instagram and 35% don’t use Facebook, according to a study by AppAnnie.
Snap has been adding self-service ad features since last year as it seeks to diversify its revenue streams among a wider group of customers — similar to Google and Facebook’s strategies. Carving out a bigger slice of the $83 billion digital ad market is critical for Snap, which last year lost $515 million on revenue of about $404.5 million. Snap needs to expand the ways it monetizes its reach among 160 million daily users, a small audience compared with Facebook’s 1.89 billion, Instagram’s 600 million and Twitter’s 328 million.
Unfortunately, Snapchat users don’t respond well to advertising. A JPMorgan Chase survey found that two-thirds of Snapchat viewers never watch video ads, while 73% of users said they never respond to Snap Ads, eMarketer reported last month.